THE RIGHT TO FORM ONE’S REGIONAL STATE UNDER THE ETHIOPIAN FEDERATION: THE CASE OF SIDAMA PEOPLE

Kala Kinkino Kia

By KINKINO KIA

Abstract

After a long period of centralization attempt of the successive Ethiopian rulers proved failure, the new rulers of Ethiopia started to reverse it. The centralized state structure and political thinking that had survived for more than a century has been replaced by new kinds of political ‘ambitions’ and ‘aspirations’ based on regional autonomy and ethnic self-determination, followed by restructuring of the State on a different ideology, which is described as ethnic federalism. Ethnic federalism was introduced in Ethiopia in 1991 when the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) came to power and launched the idea of “self-determination for the nationalities”, up to and including secession, devolving political, administrative and economic power to ethnically defined regional states.
 

The 1995 constitution which formally declared the federal state of Ethiopia is among one of the few constitutions in the world which recognized the right to self-determination for nations/nationalities in its fullest sense. Ethnic federalism and self-administration and self-determination became the founding ideology of the new administrative structure so that the historic marginalization and injustice done to various nations/nationalities would be effectively addressed. It promised every ethnic groups to self-determination including to the right to administer itself. However, the constitution established only nine ethnically based regions contrary to the expectations of the various elites of ethnic groups. The constitution at the same time provided an outlet so that any nation/nationality can establish its own regional states at any time. Nevertheless, this ambitious constitutional promise has not been free from problems if one delves in to the practicability of the right to establish one’s regional state.

So, the present study aims to analyze how the sacred principle of the right to self-determination of the nations/nationalities in Ethiopia has been played out in practice with particular reference to the case of Sidama people. Put another way, this study explores how the process of implementing the right to self-determination has unfolded on the ground in the Ethiopian federation by assessing the case of Sidama people. The case of Sidama people is the first of its kind in that the Sidama people officially demanded to exercise the right to establish their own state after the new administrative epoch in the country. The way how their demand for regional status has been handled and addressed clearly shows how less far the ruling elites have attempted to implement the said right.

Accordingly, the study thoroughly and closely assesses how best to deal with the demands of nations and nationalities for the realization of constitutional right to regional statehood in Ethiopia and how has the existing constitutional and federal system worked or fared in this regard. In doing so, the study follows a multi-disciplinary approach to construct the case in a larger framework of constitutional law, human rights law and federalism.

It is the argument of this writer that the analysis of the practicability of the right to self-determination under the order of ethnic federalism must follow a wider approach than is common in conventional constitutional law analysis.

Focusing purely on the institutions and rights as they appear in the laws would remain insufficient to reveal how the practical aspect of the right operates in reality. This underlines the need to look not only at the rights as they appear on the legal documents, but, also the wider social and political conditions that influence the success as well as failure in the process of exercising the said right. In line with the lessons demonstrated by the Sidama case, this study claims that the beautiful law of self-determination on books is not being effectively implemented beyond cultural autonomy, due to unwillingness and policy of political pragmatism of the ruling regime through its centralized party system.

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